Datapoint Lingala/Uses of the habitual marker

With stative verbs, habitual and current state can also be expressed by means of the Present marker -í.

Nabángí Nzámbe
Na-báng-í Nzámbe
1sg-fear-PRS.PRF God
'I fear God.'

The difference between the variant with the Habitual marker -aka (example 60-66) and that with the Present marker -í, is that the former expresses a discontinuous, iterative habit or state (I fear God, each time I enter a church) and the latter a continuous one (I fear God, in general, incessantly).

Values

Habitual and current state

Example 60-65:
nasálaka na Kinshása
na-sál-aka
1sg-work-hab
na
in
Kinshása
Kinshása
I work in Kinshasa (habitually).

Source: nd

Example 60-66:
nabángaka Nzámbe
na-báng-aka
1sg-fear-hab
Nzámbe
God
I fear God.

Source: nd

Confidence:
Very certain